banana_recordzfandomcom-20200213-history
Use Somebody
"Use Somebody" is an unreleased song recorded by Josh Kingston for his cancelled compilation album Up in Flames: Deluxe Edition (2014), a re-release of his third studio album Up in Flames (2013). The song was originally recorded by Kings of Leon in 2008. After Kingston recorded the song for inclusion on Deluxe Edition, Kingston's version of the song was entangled in leak controversy. In October 2013, an unfinished demo of Kingston's version leaked onto the internet. The release of Deluxe Edition and the single was ultimately cancelled. Leak controversy On 16 August 2013, a blog user under the name leakyleaky claimed in a post titled Daily Leaks that he had acquired the song and was planning to leak it on his website "within the next week". Later that day, Banana Music Group released a statement calling leakyleak's claims "asburd". A publicist said it was "not possible for a party unaffiliated with Banana Music Group or Indigo Records to acquire the song", as it is secured in a "digital vault". Despite this, on 20 August, leakyleak said in a Daily Leaks post that he planned to leak the song on 27 August. On 22 August, Kingston stated, "I'm planning on leaking the song myself prior to the 27th so that the hard work that so many people put into the song is not compromised by some random person who thinks that leaking it is such a good idea". On 26 August, leakyleak said in a Daily Leaks post that he had decided to postpone the leak to 3 September. Following this, Banana Music stated: "After discussing the matter with Josh Kingston and others involved at Banana, we are positive that it is not possible for leakyleak to have acquired the track". On 31 August, leakyleak postponed plans to leak the song. Leakyleaks said on 13 September that he was still in posession of the song and that he would release it towards the end of the month. Banana Music and Kingston both declined to comment on leakyleak's renewed threats. On 27 September, leakyleaks revealed that he had never been in posession of the song and that the leak claims had been a "prank". Despite this, on 26 October, leakyleak again renewed the threats; stating he would leak the song on 29 October. Unexpectedly, the song leaked onto ZippyShare on 29 October. The following day, leakyleak declared responsibility for the leak. On 2 November, Kingston stated that the version of the song that leaked was "an unfinished demo" that he had "given to leakyleak and asked him to leak" in order to "end the threats". He revealed that the final version of the song had been in a digital vault since August and that the leaked version was recorded several months prior to the finished version. Later that month, it was announced that the release of Up in Flames: Deluxe Edition, the song that "Use Somebody" was supposed to be included on, had been cancelled. On December 15, Leakyleak said on Daily Leaks that he had acquired Kingston's cover of "Monster" by Kanye West and that he planned to leak it on 22 December, however Kingston retaliated this on a website post the following day, saying that he has "never even recorded" the song. The song did not appear on the 22 December edition of Daily Leaks. In February 2014, Kingston stated that the final version of the song would not appear on his fourth album or any other future releases, saying, "the leak kind of ruined the song for me".